Congratulations to Kiluanji Kia Henda for receiving the Frieze Artist Award 2017.
Kia Henda is the first African artist to receive the award, and he will realize a new performative installation as part of Frieze Projects. His first solo exhibition with Goodman Gallery opens in Cape Town on Saturday 7 October.

BOOTH B12REGENT’S PARK5–8 OCTOBER 2017

FRIEZE MASTERS SPOTLIGHT: ALFREDO JAAR

BOOTH G15
REGENT’S PARK
5–8 OCTOBER 2017

Alfredo JaarCien Años De Soledad (No Realmente),1985NeonEdition of 3

Goodman Gallery and Galerie Lelong & Co. are pleased to present at Frieze Masters Spotlight with vintage works by Alfredo Jaar created in Chile during the 1970s and
‘80s – the first major overview of this body of work in the UK. These historical works speak to a critical time in Chile’s history under General Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, after democratically elected president Salvador Allende was overthrown on September 11, 1973. Within contemporary contexts, Jaar’s early inquiries into the politics of imagery and representation bear new relevance.

Congratulations to Kiluanji Kia Henda for receiving the Frieze Artist Award 2017.
Kia Henda is the first African artist to receive the award, and he will realize a new performative installation as part of Frieze Projects. His first solo exhibition with Goodman Gallery opens in Cape Town on Saturday 7 October.

BOOTH B12REGENT’S PARK5–8 OCTOBER 2017

FRIEZE MASTERS SPOTLIGHT: ALFREDO JAAR

BOOTH G15
REGENT’S PARK
5–8 OCTOBER 2017

Alfredo JaarCien Años De Soledad (No Realmente),1985NeonEdition of 3

Goodman Gallery and Galerie Lelong & Co. are pleased to present at Frieze Masters Spotlight with vintage works by Alfredo Jaar created in Chile during the 1970s and
‘80s – the first major overview of this body of work in the UK. These historical works speak to a critical time in Chile’s history under General Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, after democratically elected president Salvador Allende was overthrown on September 11, 1973. Within contemporary contexts, Jaar’s early inquiries into the politics of imagery and representation bear new relevance.

Dead Bunny Soup at AARDKLOP

a liquid dish, typically savoury and made by boiling meat, bunnies, or vegetables etc. in stock or water.
“a bowl of dead bunny soup”

2.

a substance or mixture regarded as resembling soup in appearance or consistency.
“the waves and the water beyond have become a thick dead bunny soup”

verbinformal

1.

increase the power and efficiency of an engine or other machine.
“a souped-up Dead Bunny with big rear wheels”

RECIPE
Dead Bunny Society (DBS) was established in March 2015 out of necessity by a group of artists and curators that live and work in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The need was for more alternative platforms for like-minded artists and curators to exhibit their art.

The aim of DBS is to grow a network of artists (both established and emerging), curators and galleries that could combine forces in order to create more opportunities for developing an awareness of Art and expanding the horizon of exhibition platforms.

Events at AHEM! Collective (Observatory)

03TuesdayOct 2017

5 October: ‘ The Alchemy of Words’

Following totally sold out performances at the National Arts Festival, The Alchemy of Words, conceived and directed by Naomi van Niekerk, comes to the Theatre Arts Admin Collecitve for the Cape Town Fringe.

Arthur Rimbaud, the ‘enfant terrible’ of French poetry published his first immortal poem at the age of 16 only to completely abandon writing poetry at the age of 21. During this short period he managed to create a body of work that has had a profound impact on the poetry of his own time and on that of the 20th Century.

In The Alchemy of Words, three artists from different disciplines – puppetry, film and music – search to capture the enigma of Arthur Rimbaud and what it means to be a pioneer. Expect an immersive experience that combines artistic projections, puppetry and live music inspired by the diverse imagery from Rimbaud’s poems – smoke filled battlefields, the lush countryside of the French Ardennes, colourful vowels, crimson seas…

The Alchemy of Words is brought to you by ‘The French Institute of South Africa’ Ifas Culture and the ‘Alliance Française Southern Africa’.

Volume 01 of a series of international independent animation film maker evenings at Ahem!

Following Naomi van Niekerk’s ‘The Alchemy of Words’ production showing at the Methodist Church on Milton rd, Observatory on Friday at 8pm, this animation night will screen five traditionally animated short films by independent international animation film makers.
R40 tickets at the door. Free for ‘The Alchemy of Words’ attendees.

In celebration of Inktober and the 145 years since Aubrey Beardsley’s wonderful illustrative work entered the world, Ahem! is hosting a locals only exhibition featuring beautiful black and white illustrations in a variety of mediums.

We are the kind that loves the smell of old books, of freshly printed sheets, of graphite and mighty markers and the feel of a brushpen against rice paper. We are the kind that is dedicated to creating a sense of community for the lonely hermitised animators and illustrators in Cape Town, as well as promote & reward the work of local and international artists in a way that’s affordable to young collectors.

As a mother & daughter duo, we work tirelessly, volunteering our time and energy into making this community space, find and exhibit beautiful and unique artworks and in the meantime try to develop lesser privileged artists from South African townships, as well as establish ourselves as an employment outreach for recovering addicts from our local bohemian area of Observatory. ‘

‘Tr!p3ch’ by Claude Chandler

02MondayOct 2017

After returning from a residency in Germany, where he was inspired by visits to local cathedrals, Claude Chandler returned to South Africa to begin work on his new solo show ‘Tr!p3ch’. A series of paintings that reflects his interest in the contemporary digital world and its effect on human psychology. His painterly technique is the repetitive use of numerical stamps applied to create form and structure, which one observes quite strikingly.

Details: Opening 5 October at 6pm (as part of First Thursdays)

runs until 26 October 10am -5pm Monday to Friday and 10am-1pm Saturdays

Understanding the value of art

02MondayOct 2017

By Julie Miller

Fine art operates within a unique global sweet spot that stretches across the intersections between culture, commerce and fashion. One of the most fascinating things about the industry is the certainty with which its pundits proclaim their various realities. The internet is awash with opinions (of varying quality) from art experts telling us how the global sector is nothing but a money laundering mechanism, or how gallerists choose personalities, not artists, or how a small group of elite intellectuals control what is viewed as valid, and what isn’t.

Which makes things tricky for the aspirant art investor. With so much certainty zinging around – which is often very contradictory in spirit and message – is it even possible to assess the value of fine art?

Honesty is required in answering this question. The truth is that there are a lot of variables at play in the art world, and that these make value assessments tricky. People do launder cash by buying art. Many significant art careers have clearly grown from the turf of dubious talent. There is also an awful lot of self serving verbiage released from art intellectuals.

But, even with these truths acknowledged, there are still important value fundamentals at play that investors can, and should, consider.

Skill

Skill is a subjective idea, but there are nonetheless simple mechanisms that can be used to assess it. The first, and most important, is the basic question: Could you do this? Or, conversely, is the art you’re examining a product of years of technical experience? Even if you’re not an art expert, it is generally safe to trust your gut in this assessment. A pile of clothes on the floor is just that – no matter how extensive the artist statement or impressive the price tag.

Complexity can also be a useful lens from which to assess skill. What – in your view, and in the view of those around you, including those in the business – is the level of complexity of the work? High value artists tend, as they get older, to produce work that is clearly the result of complex, sophisticated effort. The correlation between complexity and art value is strong. An artist producing epic work in a logistical sense is very often bankable over the medium and long term.

Is it unique?

There’s a reason Africa’s exquisite wildlife wood carvings will never sell for huge prices, and it’s not because they are low quality. It’s because they are everywhere. The more generic a work of art, the more dubious its long term value – even if the artist is hot stuff on the celebrity scene. The more unique work is, the better the chance of it achieving, and maintaining, financial value.

Are criminals using the work for money laundering?

Kidding, kidding.

Does it appeal?

Are people engaged by the work at galleries? Do they stand around and talk about it? Do they come back to examine it again? These are important questions, but you have to be careful in answering them, because the art world is a trendy place, and you don’t want to get caught in the breaking wave of fashion. If you’re seriously interested in a piece, or an artist, the best way to assess the strength of its broad market appeal is to speak to an industry expert.

Artist experience

How long has the artist been around? Have they got a track record of investment in their art, their talent, and their creative community? These factors speak to longevity and legitimacy, which have an important bearing on value. Simply put, an artist without a long and strong industry track record is unlikely to be a good financial bet. Oh, and do they make art, currently? This sounds simplistic, but it’s an important idea. Prolific artists tend to grow and develop well in terms of financial value. Those who only cough up a few items at random times, on the other hand, easily vanish from the sector altogether, taking the financial value of their work with them.

Materials

This is a vital factor. Picking up a piece that was created by a currently famous artist in their youth sounds like a fantastic idea, and it often is. But if the artist knocked out the piece using shoddy materials, your money will go down a black hole.

Here are some pointers:

Don’t, ever, buy a ball point pen sketch, because in ten years the ink will have vanished. Watch out for work on acidic paper, which degrades over time. Canvas quality is also important to value – a poorly stretched or made canvas will lose quality, and value, over time.

The types of paints the artist uses matter, a lot, because pigments vary dramatically. Some are natural, others are synthetic. Some are student quality, some are artist grade. As with a ball point pen, work created with a synthetic, student grade pigment is unlikely to be a good bet in investment terms.

Career management

It’s always a good sign if an artist has someone actively managing their career. This person is often a gallerist, but can also be a career manager, or agent. They ensure the artist doesn’t release low quality work onto the market that impacts overall value, and also ensure a general level of professionalism in the distribution and showcasing of work. Equally importantly, a career manager drives the vital PR and marketing engine that creates – and sustains – profile and, ultimately, market demand.

Relationships and reputation

Fine art mythology is filled with stories about crazy, volatile artists, but the reality is much more prosaic – there is a strong relationship between market value and the quality of the artist’s relationships with sales agents, galleries and the art industry as a whole. Generally speaking, artists that people want to work with are likely to produce work that gains long term value.

And, finally, there’s the thorny issue of reputation. We all know that in the media reputations can rise and fall with the winds, but, nonetheless, good reviews from important people matter a great deal. If critics, key galleries and respected industry figures are full of praise for an artist, that’s a good thing.

Of course, if they’re full of outrage and scorn, that could be worth a bet too! While art value is far more predictable than many people make out, weirdness always lurks. Maybe that’s why it’s such a compelling sector to work in.

About the Julie Miller Investment Art Institute

The Julie Miller Investment Art Institute is an art investment and management company focussed on harnessing and developing the global investment potential of the African art industry for the benefit of all stakeholders, and to allow art to make a greater contribution to the economic development of our continent.

Based at the Mall of Africa, the organisation is one of few that offers access for residents

of the north to the fast rising talent of the Joburg arts scene which, while vibrant, remains rooted to specific locations which are often inaccessible to the wider Gauteng public.

For more information, and for updates on future exhibitions, please see our
website [http://www.no-end.co.za/]

No End Contemporary Art Space, 60 4th Ave, Linden, JHB

Business hours:

Wednesday – Friday 9.30am – 3pm

Saturday 9.30am – 1pm

‘ We’re opening the floor to you’ Business School of Design

01SundayOct 2017

CAPE TOWN

11-12 October

JOHANNESBURG

18-19 October

After four Business of Design conferences, we’ve learned a lot. From a lot of
superstars. In a lot of successful businesses. But we still want to learn more! This
year, we’re introducing Open Sessions, where we invite you to ask us your biggest
business questions. Business of Design founders Laurence Brick and Cathy O’Clery of
Platform Creative Agency, and Trevyn and Julian McGowan of The Guild Group, will
endeavour to solve some of the challenges that have been plaguing you in your work,
aiding you in growing your business and thinking of innovative ways to overcome
obstacles. And, when they might not have the answers, we’ll open up the floor to
fellow delegates because, at Business of Design, we care about growing an industry
of support and encouragement, where we’re all able

to learn from one another.

Besides the newly introduced Open Sessions, you can expect the same stellar speaker
lineup

of inspirational thought-leaders you’ve come

to expect from Business of Design

SEE WEBSITE FOR SPEAKERS IN EACH CITY
[http://www.businessofdesign.co.za/speakers-2017/]

THE V&A WATERFRONT UNVEILS ITS MOST AMBITIOUS PROJECT TO DATE: A MUSEUM DEDICATED TO CONTEMPORARY ART FROM AFRICA

17SundaySep 2017

Mary Sibande, ‘In the midst of chaos, there is opportunity’

More than four years in the making, the V&A Waterfront’s R500-million project to reimagine the historic grain silo into the world’s largest museum dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora has reached completion, culminating in the official public opening of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) on Friday, 22 September.

Conceptualised by the V&A Waterfront, in consultation with Heatherwick Studio, the museum is housed in a building that had humble beginnings as part of an industrial shipping facility in the Cape Town Harbour. The almost 100-year-old grain silo today has an entirely new purpose: custodian of some of the most important contemporary artwork on the African continent.

A joint not-for-profit partnership between the V&A Waterfront and German business entrepreneur Jochen Zeitz, the museum is an important endeavour in almost every respect.

From preserving the historic architectural and industrial legacy of what was once the tallest building in South Africa, to developing a sustainable not-for-profit public cultural institution that collects, preserves, researches, and exhibits cutting edge contemporary art from Africa and its Diaspora, Zeitz MOCAA is intended to be an important cultural landmark that contributes to a stronger, wider appreciation of the continent’s cultural heritage.

“Our vision was to create an accessible, contemporary art museum and it has finally come to fruition,” said David Green, CEO of the V&A Waterfront.

“We recognised the importance art plays in society and the need to showcase the talents of Africa in Africa. It is for these reasons we are so proud to be able to unveil a home that will be not only a powerful platform for the artists but allow locals and international visitors access to great works of art, that will become the legacy of society as a whole.”

The grain silo’s architectural redevelopment from disused industrial building into a cutting-edge contemporary art museum was undertaken by London-based Heatherwick Studio in conjunction with local South African architects.

Thomas Heatherwick, Founder of Heatherwick Studio, said: “The idea of turning a giant disused concrete grain silo made from 116 vertical tubes into a new kind of public space was weird and compelling from the beginning. We were excited by the opportunity to unlock this formerly dead structure and transform it into somewhere for people to see and enjoy the most incredible artworks from the continent of Africa. We are all looking forward to witnessing the impact of the museum’s ambitious artistic programme and the museum taking its pivotal place in the middle of Africa’s cultural infrastructure.”

The galleries and the cathedral-like atrium space at the centre of the museum have been literally carved from the silos’ dense cellular structure of forty-two tubes that pack the building. The development includes 6,000 sq metres of exhibition space in 100 galleries, a rooftop sculpture garden, state of the art storage and conservation areas, a bookshop, a restaurant and bar, and various reading rooms.

Nandipha Mntambo- Installative view.

Zeitz MOCAA is the first African institution to acknowledge new mediums through the establishment of different centres and institutes within the overall museum: Centres for a Costume Institute, Photography, Curatorial Excellence, the Moving Image, Performative Practice and Art Education. The museum’s founding art collection, the Zeitz Collection, is on long-term loan, and forms the basis of the extensive art on display at the newly opened museum.

Zeitz MOCAA has sought to create a contemporary art museum that is easily accessible to South Africans and continental visitors. The Museum’s ‘Access for All’ programme will ensure that no one is ever turned away from the Museum due to the inability to afford admission.

The ‘Access for All’ programme will see visitors under the age of 18 allowed free entrance to the museum all year around, free admission every Wednesday morning for all South Africans and other visitors from the African continent, and half price admission for all on ‘Late Night Fridays’. The Museum is removing financial barriers to entry for those who may not have the resources to visit otherwise.

Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Museum, Mark Coetzee said: “This Museum is a symbol, an icon, of the confidence we feel about being African, the confidence that we feel about our place in the world. And that’s what makes this so extraordinary. We have been given an opportunity to create a museum for all, and we must guarantee Access for All. The right to cultural participation, and access to the artefacts that represent our diverse cultures, is deeply rooted in human rights. This is a principle that Zeitz MOCAA will uphold, defend and keep as a central mission of its reason for being.”

THIS PERFORMANCE WILL TAKE PLACE IN FOUR PARTS, EACH COMMENCING AT 17H30, 18H30, 19H30, 20H30

For the past six years, Mikhael Subotzky has been systematically pulling images apart in an attempt to “get inside” them and understand their representational function. Working with found images as well as his own photographs, these have been radically re contextualised, smashed, split in half, and reconstituted into forms that Subotzky sees as being a more honest reflection of these images than their original form. At Maitland Institute, Subotzky continues this process, working for the first time with paint and ink on canvas, as well as in collaborative performance with The Brother Moves On. These new formal constituents are wielded around Subotzky’s personal iconography – images that he has both found and made that resonate with his memories and experiences, as well as certain texts foundational to his understanding of the world.

The collaborative performance with The Brother Moves On, titled Four Rehearsals in the Yellow Bile , will take place within the exhibition on the opening night (14 September). It too will “pull apart” the underlying texts and images of Subotzky’s works, while also introducing the narratives and imagery of performance and collaboration synonymous with The Brother Moves On. Four Rehearsals in the Yellow Bile features Thantaswa May as our female protagonist stuck in the Bile, under the watchful eye of our current reality. Her story, an ode to Nina Simone’s Four Women and the Marikana widows amongst others, will be sung in counterpoint and conflict with TS Eliot’s Four Quartets (read by Subotzky) and accompanied by a percussive and musical score created by Zelizwe Mthembu. This “work in progress” exhibition thus introduces a new stream in Subotzky’s work, a cross-medium attempt to illustrate and understand

T.S. Elliot’s Four Quartets, Drawing on a long history of artists’ “illustration” of classic texts – Rauschenberg’s Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno and Robert Crumb’s Holy Bible for example – Subotzky seeks to get inside a text that has been fundamental to his aesthetic and philosophical understanding of the world. It is a project that he estimates he will be preoccupied with for many years to come.